The term "Caucasian" has different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. Here are some of the meanings of the term:

• Anthropology: In early attempts at racial classification, skin pigmentation was regarded as the main difference between the races. The term "Caucasian race" was coined in 1785 by Christoph Meiners, a German philosopher. Meiners recognized two races — the Caucasian or beautiful, and the Mongolian or ugly. According to his classification, the Caucasian race encompassed the native populations of Europe, the aboriginal inhabitants of West Asia, the autochthones of Northern Africa, and Indians. Anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach took racial classification further and divided humans into five races based on skin color — Caucasian (the "white race"), Mongoloid (the "yellow race"), Malayan (the "brown race"), Ethiopian (the "black race"), and American (the "red race").

• Obsolete racial classification: The Caucasian race is an obsolete racial classification of humans based on a now-disproven theory of biological race. The term was historically used to describe people of European, Middle Eastern, or North African ancestry.

• Social context: In the United States, the root term Caucasian is still in use as a synonym for white or of European, Middle Eastern, or North African ancestry, a usage that has been criticized.

• Geographical context: The word Caucasian comes from the region of the Caucasus, a scenic region stretching from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea. A German anthropologist named Johann Blumenbach set out to create a system of labels for different races. Upon visiting the Caucasus Mountains, he became enamored with the appearance of the people there and determined that they had an ideal form of beauty. From then on, he would refer to Caucasians as those with European ancestry in his research and studies on racial anthropology. The U.S. legal system would later adopt Blumenbach’s system, which is why the word is commonly used today.

In summary, the term "Caucasian" has different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. It can refer to an obsolete racial classification of humans based on a now-disproven theory of biological race, or it can be used in a social context to describe people of European, Middle Eastern, or North African ancestry. The term also has a geographical context, as it comes from the region of the Caucasus.